At the risk of assisting Grantham Sharks with their preparations, I thought I should clarify the dates and venue for this year's team and individual rapidplay, since (at least up until this morning) different details were given on different parts of the 4NCL site.

At the risk of assisting Grantham Sharks with their preparations, I thought I should clarify the dates and venue for this year's team and individual rapidplay, since (at least up until this morning) different details were given on different parts of the 4NCL site.

The correct dates and venue are:

13-14 October at Park Inn Bedford

Given that they will be in Greece playing the European Club I don't think you need to worry too much

At the risk of assisting Grantham Sharks with their preparations, I thought I should clarify the dates and venue for this year's team and individual rapidplay, since (at least up until this morning) different details were given on different parts of the 4NCL site.

At the risk of assisting Grantham Sharks with their preparations, I thought I should clarify the dates and venue for this year's team and individual rapidplay, since (at least up until this morning) different details were given on different parts of the 4NCL site.

The correct dates and venue are:

13-14 October at Park Inn Bedford

Isn’t the Team rapidplay being effectively ditched this year anyway?

Apparently that is the plan, but no announcements yet. I only found out this morning about the possibility. Why would I have heard any earlier? We only won it six times out of ten

At the risk of assisting Grantham Sharks with their preparations, I thought I should clarify the dates and venue for this year's team and individual rapidplay, since (at least up until this morning) different details were given on different parts of the 4NCL site.

The correct dates and venue are:

13-14 October at Park Inn Bedford

Isn’t the Team rapidplay being effectively ditched this year anyway?

Apparently that is the plan, but no announcements yet. I only found out this morning about the possibility. Why would I have heard any earlier? We only won it six times out of ten

Possibly the issue is participation in one event or the other, and not therefore using the hotel accommodation.

We’ve gone for a straight individual event in the end. There wasn’t much enthusiasm from past captains for the suggested new format and the previous format was financially unsustainable - and probably financially even worse this year because of the ECC clash. So we’ve invested the intended team prizes into a substantially increased best performance prize fund (12 x £125 prizes across a number of rating/grade bands).

I can see plenty of other events listed on the 4NCL website, but nothing for a rapidplay on 13-14 October at Bedford. Where is it shown?

I have been to all the 4NCL Team rapidplays and thoroughly enjoyed each one (I rarely have time for weekend chess). Thanks to Mike and co for having organised them, and it is a pity that they are having to be abandoned, as team rapidplays are rare, compared with the considerable number of individual events on offer. If finance is the main stumbling block, because of the number of people playing just one day and therefore the lack of hotel bookings, is a one day team tournament at weekend conference rates a realistic model for the future? Rather than charging the unrealistically low entry fee of about £10 per head which covered both team event on the Saturday and the individual event on the Sunday, maybe a much higher entry fee is an alternative viable financial model - I and my team mates would be prepared to pay a lot more than £10 each for a one day team event. Do others feel the same way?

Certainly so - entrants could pay quite a bit more. But then, we are among the few who regularly played. Attracting new teams is the real, and more difficult challenge, and it was never resolved.

I never understood why it was not more popular, but there it is. It needed to become a traditional event, which a core (regular) number of, say, 15 or so teams would play every year, plus another five to ten extras from year to year, but it didn't. There were just six or so core teams, plus six or so extras each year: too many teams came and only intermittently returned. (One year, CSC enterred five teams! Subsequently, not as many as one).

Certainly so - entrants could pay quite a bit more. But then, we are among the few who regularly played. Attracting new teams is the real, and more difficult challenge, and it was never resolved.

I never understood why it was not more popular, but there it is. It needed to become a traditional event, which a core (regular) number of, say, 15 or so teams would play every year, plus another five to ten extras from year to year, but it didn't. There were just six or so core teams, plus six or so extras each year: too many teams came and only intermittently returned. (One year, CSC enterred five teams! Subsequently, not as many as one).

My teams really enjoyed the event and I was looking forward to entering multiple teams after a gap of 3-4 years ago due to J4NCL clashes and the venue inching further south.

Certainly so - entrants could pay quite a bit more. But then, we are among the few who regularly played. Attracting new teams is the real, and more difficult challenge, and it was never resolved.

I never understood why it was not more popular, but there it is. It needed to become a traditional event, which a core (regular) number of, say, 15 or so teams would play every year, plus another five to ten extras from year to year, but it didn't. There were just six or so core teams, plus six or so extras each year: too many teams came and only intermittently returned. (One year, CSC enterred five teams! Subsequently, not as many as one).

My teams really enjoyed the event and I was looking forward to entering multiple teams after a gap of 3-4 years ago due to J4NCL clashes and the venue inching further south.

I should clarify that my comments were for the original dates in November at Daventry. The new dates would have been very unlikely due to the clash with the European Club Cup.

If people were minded to do a bit of investigation with their colleagues as to how many teams might support a one-day team event and how much people might be willing to pay, I would happily undertake to try to find a suitable venue.

In the absence of a two-day event, you don't need me to tell you that in the absence of significant bedroom bookings we need to be ready to pay for room hire in a 4NCL-standard venue. I'm afraid we don't do schools or community centres!

I have sent a private message to Mike. I would be curious to know what others think, as it would probably be helpful to Mike and his colleagues to know what level of support from players they are likely to get if they invest time and effort in resurrecting the event.

Having spent 20 minutes on some cursory research of suitable venues and some unsophisticated financial forecasting, my tentative first thought is that a one day team event could be financially viable (acknowledging that it is easy to suggest these things, when someone else has to do the hard work of actually putting them into effect). Cost per head would depend on what is required and the number of entries, but if only as few as 15 teams (60 players) entered, £10 per head for the venue cost, £10 per head (compulsory) for a sandwich lunch plus tea and coffee, plus £10 per head for other expenses (arbiters, equipment hire, small prize fund). So let's say somewhere between £20 - £30 per head. Having taken a very quick sounding with my regular team mates and other players from my clubs, all those I have asked said they would be willing to pay £30 per head for something along the lines of the above, although again I appreciate that does not constitute a promise on their part! That having been said, I would be prepared to make a pledge or a deposit, as I would be very confident of getting a team of four together at £30 per head.

Personally I found it easier to make the two days, when I think it was in September rather than October.
I went more for the team aspect rather than the individual tournament, so I didn't even look at entering this year when I heard there was no team event.

It seemed local clubs to me were put off by not too many clubs at their level to make games interesting, and as the number of clubs got less, it got harder to persuade people to enter a lower graded team.

The other team event that has closed, the National Club had the same problem, and for whatever reason teams didn't want to enter it.

I was part of discussions between local clubs to discuss holding some sort of Midlands Team weekend championship to replace it and they came up with figures very similar to Martins.

Unfortunately I believe both the 4NCL and the National Club had rates below or equal to that amount, and couldn't generate enough interest to keep them going, so at the moment unless you can find and solve the other reasons people don't attend these events, then it is going to be very difficult to persuade anyone to set them up.